Israel legislative election, 2006
Encyclopedia
Elections
for the 17th Knesset
were held in Israel
on 28 March 2006. The voting resulted in a plurality of seats for the then-new Kadima
party, followed by the Labour Party, and a major loss for the Likud
party.
After the election, the government was formed by the Kadima, Labour, Shas
, and Gil parties, with the Yisrael Beiteinu party joining the government later. The Prime Minister was Ehud Olmert
, leader of Kadima, who had been the acting prime minister going into the election.
According to the Congressional Research Service
:
, Likud, under the leadership of Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon
, had a convincing win by Israeli standards, winning 38 seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament), with Sharon perceived as tough anti-terrorist leader on the wings of his 2002 Operation Defensive Shield
. Labour, led by Amram Mitzna
under slogans for "disengagement" from Gaza, won only 19 seats and did not initially join the new government.
Following the 2003 elections Likud suffered severe divisions over several positions taken by Sharon, most notably his adoption of a plan to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip
. This was exactly the position taken by Labour and denounced as being defeatist by Sharon prior to the 2003 elections, so it caused tension within the Likud party and in January 2005 Shimon Peres
led Labour into a coalition with Sharon to allow the Gaza withdrawal to proceed despite opposition from a majority of Likud members.
campaigned for the party leadership on a platform that included withdrawing Labor from the Sharon-led coalition. Peretz narrowly defeated Peres in the leadership election on November 9, 2005, and two days later all Labor ministers resigned from the Cabinet and Labour withdrew its support for the Government, leaving it without majority support in the Knesset.
Negotiations between Sharon and Peretz set the election date for 28 March 2006. "I'm letting him [Sharon] choose a date in that period between the end of February and the end of March and whatever date he chooses is acceptable to me, the earlier the better," Peretz said at the time. Sharon said: "As soon as it became clear that the existing political framework was falling apart, I came to the conclusion that the best thing for the country is to hold new elections as soon as possible."
.
Although Kadima was formed primarily of former Likud members, Peres (having lost the Labor leadership election to Peretz) also announced his support for the new party, and later officially left Labor. Peres cited Sharon's leadership skills as a reason for his party switch.
Polls taken through the end of 2005 showed Sharon's Kadima Party enjoying a commanding lead over both Labor and Likud.
who had become Acting Prime Minister and acting chairman of Kadima when Sharon became incapacitated, now officially became the new party's candidate for Prime Minister. Peres was placed second on Labor's list of candidates. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
was placed third on the Kadima list, with the understanding that she would be the senior Vice Premier if Kadima formed the next government.
In the Shinui
primaries, Tel Aviv
council member Ron Levintal defeated Avraham Poraz
for the number 2 spot. Poraz, a close ally of party leader Yosef Lapid
, subsequently resigned from Shinui, as did most Shinui Knesset members, forming a breakaway party called Hetz
(ha-Miflaga ha-Hilonit Tzionit or 'the Secular Zionist Party'). Lapid resigned as party leader on 25 January 2006, and Leventhal was subsequently elected the new party leader. Neither Shinui nor Hetz received sufficient votes to win any seats in the 17th Knesset. Shinui had won 15 seats in the 2003 election and was the third largest party in the 16th Knesset.
On 30 January 2006 the right-wing National Union
(Halchud HaLeumi), a coalition of three small parties (Moledet
, Tkuma
, Tzionut Datit Leumit Mitchadeshet), submitted a joint list with the National Religious Party
. The merged list is headed by Binyamin Elon
. The largely Russian immigrant Israel Beytenu
(Israel Our Home) party has separated from National Union and is running a separate list.
This separation occurred following polls that predicted that, when running separately, these two major rightist blocs would receive between 20 to 25 seats (in the previous elections, they had received only 7), and it turned out to be true: the National Union bloc received 9 seats and Israel Beytenu received 11.
Likud selected Netanyahu as its leader, over then-Defense Minister Silvan Shalom
. At Netanyahu's insistence, Shalom and the other remaining Likud ministers resigned from the Olmert-led government in January 2006.
Polls conducted from January through March showed Kadima still enjoying a substantial lead, though somewhat reduced from polls taken under Sharon's leadership.
, more than a thousand Israelis were killed in Palestinian militant attacks. Israel's security policy during that time was focused on arresting or killing members of the militant organizations, through frequent military excursions into the Palestinian territories
and (somewhat controversially) targeted killing
s, and to curb the movement of suspected militants – especially would-be suicide bombers – through the use of checkpoints. This policy won the support of the Jewish mainstream, but elements in the Jewish left, as well as the vast majority of the Arab population, vehemently opposed what they saw as excessive response to the security threat. Some claimed that Israel's policy was in fact encouraging more violence from the Palestinian side.
Despite the decrease in violence during 2005 and 2006, or perhaps because of it, popular support for the security policy remained high among the Israeli public, which continued to fear suicide bombings and Qassam rocket
attacks.
During the 2006 electoral campaign, the center and right parties vowed to continue the relentless fight against the Palestinian militants. Even Labor
, which was traditionally known for its dovish views, put "combating terrorism" at the top of its agenda on the Conflict. Opposition to the current security policy, especially the use of targeted killings and the existence of checkpoints on Palestinian soil, comes mainly from Jewish left parties such as Meretz and from the Arab parties.
, the political field in Israel split into two roughly distinct groups: those who are in favor of withdrawing from most or all of the West Bank
(unofficially nicknamed "Blues"), and those who wish for that area to remain under Israeli control (so-called "Orange"). In particular, Ariel Sharon
and his faction left Likud
to form Kadima
because of their support of ending Israeli control over the West Bank. However, the two groups are also divided internally as to what practical steps need to be taken during the next few years.
Since Israel's establishment, the political scene has been dominated by security and peace issues. The major parties were mainly divided by the different approaches with regard to the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian
conflicts.
The 2006 elections mark the first time a major party – the Labor Party – has placed economic and social issues on top of its agenda. This is mainly attributed to Amir Peretz
's surprise victory over Shimon Peres
in the November 2005 Labour leadership election; Peretz had left the party a few years earlier to form the socialist One Nation, which had only recently merged into Labour.
Labour's social democratic
approach, which includes promises to raise the minimum wage
and allocate a pension
for every worker, now stands in sharp contrast to the neo-liberal agenda promoted by Likud
leader Binyamin Netanyahu. Serving as Finance Minister from 2003 to 2005, Netanyahu led a policy that encouraged economic growth
and lower taxes at the expense of Israel's long-running welfare mechanism. This has alienated him from many Likud
supporters, which traditionally hail from the lower and middle classes. In the campaign, Netanyahu claimed to have done this to "save the Israeli economy
from collapse."
In addition to Labor, the orthodox religious Shas
, which has always claimed to champion the poor in Israeli society, also attacked Netanyahu's policies during the campaign, as did a number of small (and often new) socialist parties.
parties focused on maintaining the balance between observants and seculars in issues such as education
, Kashrut
, keeping the Sabbath
and matrimonial law, while Haredi
parties demanded funds for religious scholars and the continued exemption of their followers from military service (decided on by David Ben Gurion in 1951.) All of this alienated many secular Israelis, who felt their personal freedoms were being infringed upon and that they were unfairly carrying most of the burden. This led to the rise of Shinui
, which at the 2003 elections
won 15 out of 120 seats and joined Ariel Sharon
's coalition. Shinui failed in making significant changes to the status quo on religious issues, and quit the government in 2005 after Sharon decided to transfer funds to the orthodox United Torah Judaism
party. An internal quarrel caused most Knesset members from Shinui to form a new party (Hetz
); both parties ran in the 2006 elections, although neither of them received any mandates.
Shinui
, Hetz, Meretz, and Ale Yarok
wish to promote what they see as key secular and democratic principles:
The various religious parties, both Zionist (National Religious Party
) and Haredi (Shas
, United Torah Judaism
) strictly oppose these changes. They wish to see Israel's Jewish character strengthened through further enforcement of the Sabbath
and changes in the educational system.
The Arab parties, the largest of which are the United Arab List
, Balad and Hadash
(a Jewish-Arab communist party, with mostly Arab composition and electorate), advocate abolition of all forms of ethnic inequality, and the establishment of a democratic bi-national state.
, using the d'Hondt method
. The election threshold
for the 2006 election was set at 2% (up from 1.5% in previous elections), which is a little over two seats.
After official results are published, the President of Israel
delegates the task of forming a government to the Member of Knesset with the best chance of assembling a majority coalition (usually the leader of the largest party.) That designee has up to 42 days to negotiate with the different parties, and then present his government to the Knesset for a vote of confidence. Once the government is approved (by a vote of at least 61 members), he/she becomes Prime Minister
.
Note: traditional left
-right
divisions in Israel are different than in most countries, being mostly based on the different positions with regard to security and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
. For example, the left-wing Meretz-Yachad
mainly advocates negotiations with the Palestinians along the lines of the Geneva Initiative, while the right-wing National Union
is opposed to any territorial concessions, yet both parties have strong histories of tabling social/welfare laws.
As the electoral threshold stands at 2%, it is impossible for a party to receive only one seat in the Knesset.
Note: Most Israeli pollsters lump the "Arab" parties together, so that the listed number is the total number of seats that the three main Arab lists (Raam, Balad, Hadash) are expected to obtain. In the event that one or more of the three lists does not pass the 2% threshold, the representation of these parties will be one to three fewer seats than listed by the polls.
1 National Union and Yisrael Beiteinu together have 7 seats.
2 Dahaf – published in Yediot Aharonot (and/or its affiliate site Ynet) with the remark "The votes of the undecided were assigned to parties on the basis of additional questions."
The turnout
was the lowest in Israeli legislative election history, 63.6% of eligible voters, compared to 68.9% in 2003 and 78.7% in 1999. The turnout of 62.5% in 2001 election for Prime Minister is the lowest in nationwide elections.
On 2 April both Gil and Meretz recommended to Katzav that Olmert become Prime Minister. The next day, at a joint appearance, Olmert and Peretz announced that Kadima and Labor would be coalition partners and that Peretz would advise the President to tap Olmert as Prime Minister.
On 6 April President Katzav formally asked Olmert to form a government officially making him Prime Minister-designate. A coalition government
was formed consisting of Kadima
, Labour, Shas
and Gil. Olmert refused to accede to Peretz's demands for the Finance ministry, who was forced to accept the Defense ministry instead.
In October 2006 with the coalition shaken after the 2006 Lebanon War, Olmert brought the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu into government as well. However, they left the coalition in January 2008 in protest at peace talks with the Palestinian National Authority
.
Elections in Israel
Elections in Israel are based on nationwide proportional representation. The electoral threshold is currently set at 2%, with the number of seats a party receives in the Knesset being proportional to the number of votes it receives. The Knesset is elected for a four-year term, although most...
for the 17th Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
were held in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on 28 March 2006. The voting resulted in a plurality of seats for the then-new Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
party, followed by the Labour Party, and a major loss for the Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
party.
After the election, the government was formed by the Kadima, Labour, Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
, and Gil parties, with the Yisrael Beiteinu party joining the government later. The Prime Minister was Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
, leader of Kadima, who had been the acting prime minister going into the election.
According to the Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
:
The March 28, 2006, Knesset election results were surprising in many respects. The voter turnout of 63.2% was the lowest ever. The contest was widely viewed as a referendum on Kadima’s plans to disengage from the West Bank, but it also proved to be a vote on economic policies that many believed had harmed the disadvantaged. Kadima came in first, but by a smaller margin than polls had predicted. Labor, emphasizing socioeconomic issues, came in a respectable second. Likud lost 75% of its votes from 2003 because Kadima drained off supporters. Its decline also was due to Netanyahu, whose policies as Finance Minister were blamed for social distress and whose opposition to unilateral disengagement was unpopular with an increasingly pragmatic, non-ideological electorate.
2003 election and later developments
In the 2003 electionsIsrael legislative election, 2003
Elections for the 16th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 January 2003. The result was a resounding victory for Ariel Sharon's Likud.The previous separate election for Prime Minister was scrapped, and the post was returned to the leader of the party successfully forming the working coalition...
, Likud, under the leadership of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
, had a convincing win by Israeli standards, winning 38 seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament), with Sharon perceived as tough anti-terrorist leader on the wings of his 2002 Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the...
. Labour, led by Amram Mitzna
Amram Mitzna
Amram Mitzna is an Israeli politician and former general. He is the acting mayor of Yeruham, the former mayor of Haifa and led the Labour Party from 2002 to 2003.-Youth, studies and military service:...
under slogans for "disengagement" from Gaza, won only 19 seats and did not initially join the new government.
Following the 2003 elections Likud suffered severe divisions over several positions taken by Sharon, most notably his adoption of a plan to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. This was exactly the position taken by Labour and denounced as being defeatist by Sharon prior to the 2003 elections, so it caused tension within the Likud party and in January 2005 Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
led Labour into a coalition with Sharon to allow the Gaza withdrawal to proceed despite opposition from a majority of Likud members.
Fall of the Likud-led government
As of the fall of 2005, Peres's Labour Party was providing the votes necessary for the Likud-led 30th Government to maintain its majority support in the Knesset. In Labour's internal leadership election scheduled for early November, Amir PeretzAmir Peretz
Amir Peretz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007....
campaigned for the party leadership on a platform that included withdrawing Labor from the Sharon-led coalition. Peretz narrowly defeated Peres in the leadership election on November 9, 2005, and two days later all Labor ministers resigned from the Cabinet and Labour withdrew its support for the Government, leaving it without majority support in the Knesset.
Negotiations between Sharon and Peretz set the election date for 28 March 2006. "I'm letting him [Sharon] choose a date in that period between the end of February and the end of March and whatever date he chooses is acceptable to me, the earlier the better," Peretz said at the time. Sharon said: "As soon as it became clear that the existing political framework was falling apart, I came to the conclusion that the best thing for the country is to hold new elections as soon as possible."
Likud split and the formation of Kadima
The impending elections raised the prospect of a leadership election within Likud, with former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expected to challenge Sharon for the party leadership. In late November, Sharon and a number of other Likud ministers and Knesset members announced that they were leaving Likud to form a new, more centrist party, which was eventually named Kadima. The formation of Kadima turned the election into a three-way race among the new party, Labor and Likud, marking a shift from Israel's tradition of elections dominated by two major partiesTwo-party system
A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...
.
Although Kadima was formed primarily of former Likud members, Peres (having lost the Labor leadership election to Peretz) also announced his support for the new party, and later officially left Labor. Peres cited Sharon's leadership skills as a reason for his party switch.
Polls taken through the end of 2005 showed Sharon's Kadima Party enjoying a commanding lead over both Labor and Likud.
Party leadership and list selections
Sharon, as founder of Kadima and incumbent Prime Minister, was universally expected to lead the new party into the March 2006 election. However, on 4 January 2006, Sharon suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, leaving him in a coma. On 31 January 2006, Kadima submitted its list of candidates, with Sharon excluded from the list due to his inability to sign the necessary documents to be a candidate. Ehud OlmertEhud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
who had become Acting Prime Minister and acting chairman of Kadima when Sharon became incapacitated, now officially became the new party's candidate for Prime Minister. Peres was placed second on Labor's list of candidates. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Tzipi Livni
Tzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She is the current Israeli Opposition Leader and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution. In Israel she has...
was placed third on the Kadima list, with the understanding that she would be the senior Vice Premier if Kadima formed the next government.
In the Shinui
Shinui
Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for...
primaries, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
council member Ron Levintal defeated Avraham Poraz
Avraham Poraz
Avraham Poraz is an Israeli lawyer and former politician.- Biography :Poraz was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1950...
for the number 2 spot. Poraz, a close ally of party leader Yosef Lapid
Yosef Lapid
Yosef "Tommy" Lapid -Biography:Lapid was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia to a family of Hungarian Jewish descent. His family was seized by the Nazis and deported to the Budapest ghetto. His father was deported to a concentration camp, where he was murdered. Lapid and his mother survived the war and...
, subsequently resigned from Shinui, as did most Shinui Knesset members, forming a breakaway party called Hetz
Hetz (political party)
Hetz was a secularist political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the breakup of Shinui towards the end of the 16th Knesset...
(ha-Miflaga ha-Hilonit Tzionit or 'the Secular Zionist Party'). Lapid resigned as party leader on 25 January 2006, and Leventhal was subsequently elected the new party leader. Neither Shinui nor Hetz received sufficient votes to win any seats in the 17th Knesset. Shinui had won 15 seats in the 2003 election and was the third largest party in the 16th Knesset.
On 30 January 2006 the right-wing National Union
National Union (Israel)
The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
(Halchud HaLeumi), a coalition of three small parties (Moledet
Moledet
Moledet is a small right-wing political party in Israel. It advocates the notion of encouraging voluntary population transfer of the Arab population of the West Bank. Moledet was founded in 1988 by Rehavam Ze'evi, who headed it until his assassination by members of the PFLP in 2001, after which...
, Tkuma
Tkuma
Tkuma is a right wing political party in Israel.-Background:Tkuma was established in 1998 when Hanan Porat and Zvi Hendel left the National Religious Party. At first the new party was named Emunim , but was later renamed Tkuma...
, Tzionut Datit Leumit Mitchadeshet), submitted a joint list with the National Religious Party
National Religious Party
The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992...
. The merged list is headed by Binyamin Elon
Binyamin Elon
Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon has lived in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank for the last twenty years...
. The largely Russian immigrant Israel Beytenu
Israel Beytenu
Yisrael Beiteinu is a nationalist political party in Israel. The party describes itself as "a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the brave path of Zev Jabotinsky", the founder of Revisionist Zionism. The party traditionally represents immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but...
(Israel Our Home) party has separated from National Union and is running a separate list.
This separation occurred following polls that predicted that, when running separately, these two major rightist blocs would receive between 20 to 25 seats (in the previous elections, they had received only 7), and it turned out to be true: the National Union bloc received 9 seats and Israel Beytenu received 11.
Likud selected Netanyahu as its leader, over then-Defense Minister Silvan Shalom
Silvan Shalom
' , born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.-Biography:...
. At Netanyahu's insistence, Shalom and the other remaining Likud ministers resigned from the Olmert-led government in January 2006.
Polls conducted from January through March showed Kadima still enjoying a substantial lead, though somewhat reduced from polls taken under Sharon's leadership.
Fighting Palestinian militancy
During the al-Aqsa IntifadaAl-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, more than a thousand Israelis were killed in Palestinian militant attacks. Israel's security policy during that time was focused on arresting or killing members of the militant organizations, through frequent military excursions into the Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
and (somewhat controversially) targeted killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
s, and to curb the movement of suspected militants – especially would-be suicide bombers – through the use of checkpoints. This policy won the support of the Jewish mainstream, but elements in the Jewish left, as well as the vast majority of the Arab population, vehemently opposed what they saw as excessive response to the security threat. Some claimed that Israel's policy was in fact encouraging more violence from the Palestinian side.
Despite the decrease in violence during 2005 and 2006, or perhaps because of it, popular support for the security policy remained high among the Israeli public, which continued to fear suicide bombings and Qassam rocket
Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....
attacks.
During the 2006 electoral campaign, the center and right parties vowed to continue the relentless fight against the Palestinian militants. Even Labor
Labor (Israel)
The Israeli Labor Party , commonly known as HaAvoda , is a social-democratic and labour Zionist political party in Israel. The party is an observer member of both Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai,...
, which was traditionally known for its dovish views, put "combating terrorism" at the top of its agenda on the Conflict. Opposition to the current security policy, especially the use of targeted killings and the existence of checkpoints on Palestinian soil, comes mainly from Jewish left parties such as Meretz and from the Arab parties.
Solutions to the conflict
In the wake of the disengagement planIsrael's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
, the political field in Israel split into two roughly distinct groups: those who are in favor of withdrawing from most or all of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
(unofficially nicknamed "Blues"), and those who wish for that area to remain under Israeli control (so-called "Orange"). In particular, Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
and his faction left Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
to form Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
because of their support of ending Israeli control over the West Bank. However, the two groups are also divided internally as to what practical steps need to be taken during the next few years.
- Meretz supported bilateral negotiations as the only path towards peace.
- Labor and KadimaKadimaKadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
both advocated further negotiations, but the supposed non-existence of a partner for peace on the Palestinian side (following HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
victory in the 2006 Palestinian electionsPalestinian legislative election, 2006On January 25, 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council , the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority . Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the January 9, 2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996; subsequent...
) brings them to strongly consider "shaping Israel's permanent borders" through a unilateral withdrawal from most of the West Bank, leaving in place the large settlementIsraeli settlementAn Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
blocs and the Jewish neighborhoods in East JerusalemEast JerusalemEast Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
. These borders will be marked by the completed separation barrierIsraeli West Bank barrierThe Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
. Kadima leader Ehud OlmertEhud OlmertEhud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
used the term "Convergence Plan" (תכנית ההתכנסות). - Yisrael Beytenu supported continued Israeli control of most settlements, but offers to cede some Israeli Arab cities and uninhabited territories to the Palestinian Authority in exchange.
- LikudLikudLikud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
advocated an expansion of the separation barrier to include more territory on the Israeli side, and continued Israeli control of the Jordan ValleyJordan Valley (Middle East)The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It runs for an additional 155 kilometer south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, an area also known as Wadi...
, the whole of Jerusalem and the settlement blocs. - National UnionNational Union (Israel)The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
-National Religious PartyNational Religious PartyThe National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992...
vehemently opposed any more unilateral withdrawals, and supports the strengthening of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. - Herut – The National Movement and the Jewish National Front, two fringe nationalist groups, supported a massive population transferPopulation transferPopulation transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
of the Arabs under Israeli control – both Palestinians and Israeli citizens – to neighboring Arab countries as a solution to the conflict. While Herut supports "voluntary transfer" through the creation of a compensation mechanism, the Front does not rule out forced transfer.
Economic and social issues
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
conflicts.
The 2006 elections mark the first time a major party – the Labor Party – has placed economic and social issues on top of its agenda. This is mainly attributed to Amir Peretz
Amir Peretz
Amir Peretz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007....
's surprise victory over Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
in the November 2005 Labour leadership election; Peretz had left the party a few years earlier to form the socialist One Nation, which had only recently merged into Labour.
Labour's social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
approach, which includes promises to raise the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
and allocate a pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
for every worker, now stands in sharp contrast to the neo-liberal agenda promoted by Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
leader Binyamin Netanyahu. Serving as Finance Minister from 2003 to 2005, Netanyahu led a policy that encouraged economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
and lower taxes at the expense of Israel's long-running welfare mechanism. This has alienated him from many Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
supporters, which traditionally hail from the lower and middle classes. In the campaign, Netanyahu claimed to have done this to "save the Israeli economy
Economy of Israel
The economy of Israel is a technologically advanced market economy, including a rapidly-developing high-tech and service sectors. As of 2010, Israel has the 24th largest economy in the world, and ranks 15th among 169 world nations on the UN's Human Development Index, which places it in the category...
from collapse."
In addition to Labor, the orthodox religious Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
, which has always claimed to champion the poor in Israeli society, also attacked Netanyahu's policies during the campaign, as did a number of small (and often new) socialist parties.
Relations between Jewish Law (Halacha) and the state
From 1948 to 2003, religious parties played a part in every coalition formed in Israel. Zionist religiousReligious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
parties focused on maintaining the balance between observants and seculars in issues such as education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, Kashrut
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
, keeping the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and matrimonial law, while Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
parties demanded funds for religious scholars and the continued exemption of their followers from military service (decided on by David Ben Gurion in 1951.) All of this alienated many secular Israelis, who felt their personal freedoms were being infringed upon and that they were unfairly carrying most of the burden. This led to the rise of Shinui
Shinui
Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for...
, which at the 2003 elections
Israel legislative election, 2003
Elections for the 16th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 January 2003. The result was a resounding victory for Ariel Sharon's Likud.The previous separate election for Prime Minister was scrapped, and the post was returned to the leader of the party successfully forming the working coalition...
won 15 out of 120 seats and joined Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
's coalition. Shinui failed in making significant changes to the status quo on religious issues, and quit the government in 2005 after Sharon decided to transfer funds to the orthodox United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters...
party. An internal quarrel caused most Knesset members from Shinui to form a new party (Hetz
Hetz (political party)
Hetz was a secularist political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the breakup of Shinui towards the end of the 16th Knesset...
); both parties ran in the 2006 elections, although neither of them received any mandates.
Shinui
Shinui
Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for...
, Hetz, Meretz, and Ale Yarok
Ale Yarok
Ale Yarok is a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, human rights and environmental activism...
wish to promote what they see as key secular and democratic principles:
- Allowing businesses to remain open and public transportation to operate during the SabbathShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
; - Abolishing the Orthodox monopoly on conducting marriage and divorce between Jewish couples (which in fact prevents many couples from getting married in Israel) by instituting civil marriageCivil marriageCivil marriage is marriage performed by a government official and not a religious organization.-History:Every country maintaining a population registry of its residents keeps track of marital status, and most countries believe that it is their responsibility to register married couples. Most...
, including for homosexuals; - Allowing the public sale of porkPorkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
(forbidden under KashrutKashrutKashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
laws); - Committing Orthodox religious scholars to military service.
The various religious parties, both Zionist (National Religious Party
National Religious Party
The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992...
) and Haredi (Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
, United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters...
) strictly oppose these changes. They wish to see Israel's Jewish character strengthened through further enforcement of the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and changes in the educational system.
Relations between Jews and Arabs
Israeli Arabs constitute roughly 20% of the population in Israel. Many Israeli-Arab groups claim continued institutional and social discrimination against them in Israel. Because they are not Jews and many identify ethnically with Palestinians their identity often clashes with their citizenship in the Jewish state. There are large disparities in general living standard and education between Israeli Arabs and the non-Arab Israeli population; they also have a lower participation rate in the workforce. Discrimination and a lower proportion of females in the workforce are often cited as reasons for this. See Israeli Arab.The Arab parties, the largest of which are the United Arab List
United Arab List
The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs...
, Balad and Hadash
Hadash
Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:...
(a Jewish-Arab communist party, with mostly Arab composition and electorate), advocate abolition of all forms of ethnic inequality, and the establishment of a democratic bi-national state.
Procedures
Elections to the Knesset allocate 120 seats by party-list proportional representationParty-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
, using the d'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
. The election threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
for the 2006 election was set at 2% (up from 1.5% in previous elections), which is a little over two seats.
After official results are published, the President of Israel
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
delegates the task of forming a government to the Member of Knesset with the best chance of assembling a majority coalition (usually the leader of the largest party.) That designee has up to 42 days to negotiate with the different parties, and then present his government to the Knesset for a vote of confidence. Once the government is approved (by a vote of at least 61 members), he/she becomes Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
.
List of participating parties
| Party | Ballot letters |
Seats before election |
Leader | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadima Kadima Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians... |
כן | 14 | Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003.... |
Centrist, new party (split from Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... ) |
| Labour-Meimad Meimad Meimad is a left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital. At the national level, it was in alliance with the Labour Party, and until the 2006 elections, received 10th spot on the... |
אמת | 21 | Amir Peretz Amir Peretz Amir Peretz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007.... |
Social democratic |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... |
מחל | 29 | Binyamin Netanyahu | Conservative |
| Hetz Hetz (political party) Hetz was a secularist political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the breakup of Shinui towards the end of the 16th Knesset... |
חץ | 9 | Avraham Poraz Avraham Poraz Avraham Poraz is an Israeli lawyer and former politician.- Biography :Poraz was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1950... |
Anti-clerical, liberal, new party (split from Shinui Shinui Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for... ) |
| Shinui Shinui Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for... |
יש | 2 | Ron Levintal | Secular |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... |
שס | 11 | Eli Yishai Eli Yishai Eliyahu "Eli" Yishai is an Israeli politician and head of the Shas party. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Shas, and as both one of four Deputy Prime Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs.- Political life :... |
Ultra-Orthodox religious, Mizrahi |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... |
ג | 5 | Yaakov Litzman Yaakov Litzman Yaakov Litzman is an Israeli politician and Deputy Government Minister. A follower of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, he heads the Agudat Israel part of the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset.-Biography:... , Avraham Ravitz Avraham Ravitz Avraham Ravitz was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Degel HaTorah, which forms part of the United Torah Judaism alliance.-Biography:... |
Ultra-Orthodox religious, Ashkenazi |
| National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... -National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... |
טב | 10 | Binyamin Elon Binyamin Elon Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon has lived in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank for the last twenty years... |
Nationalist, mostly Zionist religious Religious Zionism Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith... Joint electoral list composed of the National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... and the National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | ל | 3 | Avigdor Lieberman | Mostly Russian immigrants |
| Meretz-Yachad Meretz-Yachad New Movement-Meretz , previously known as Meretz, then Yachad, and then Meretz-Yachad is a left-wing, Zionist, social democratic political party in Israel.... |
מרצ | 5 | Yossi Beilin Yossi Beilin Dr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the... |
Social democratic |
| United Arab List United Arab List The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs... -Ta'al Ta'al Ta'al is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Ahmad Tibi.-History:Ta'al was founded by Tibi in the mid 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Arab Union, but won only 2,087 votes . For the 1999 elections it ran as part of the Balad list. Tibi won a seat, and broke away from... |
עם | 3 | Ibrahim Sarsur Ibrahim Sarsur Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for the United Arab List, of which he is the party leader.-Biography:... |
Arab, Islamist |
| Balad Balad (Israel) Balad is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Jamal Zahalka. It is sometimes called the "National Democratic Alliance".- Ideology :... |
ד | 3 | Azmi Bishara Azmi Bishara Azmi Bishara , a former member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is a Palestinian intellectual, academic, politician, and writer.In 2007, Bishara fled Israel and resigned from the Knesset after being questioned by police on suspicion of aiding and passing information to the enemy during... |
Arab, anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be... |
| Hadash Hadash Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:... |
ו | 2 | Jewish-Arab, Communist (based on Maki), anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be... |
|
| Tafnit Tafnit Tafnit was an Israeli political party and a social movement which was established by the Aluf in reserve Uzi Dayan. The party participated in the 2006 elections, although did not gain any seats.-History:Tafnit was established as a social movement... |
פ | Uzi Dayan Uzi Dayan Uzi Dayan is an Aluf in the Israel Defense Forces and an Israeli politician. He is the nephew of General Moshe Dayan.-Early life and career:... |
New party, anti-corruption | |
| Ale Yarok Ale Yarok Ale Yarok is a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, human rights and environmental activism... |
קנ | Boaz Wachtel | Advocates legalisation of marijuana and ecological issues, legalising same-sex marriage | |
| Brit Olam Brit Olam Brit Olam is a political party in Israel-Background and ideology:Brit Olam is joint Jewish-Arab party founded by Ofer Lifschitz in 2005. It stands for the foundation of a Palestinan state, separation of church and state, raising the minimum wage and improving the education system... |
ה | Ofer Lifshits | ||
| Gil | זך | Rafi Eitan Rafi Eitan Rafael "Rafi" Eitan is an Israeli politician and former intelligence officer. Today he leads Gil and is a former Minister of Pensioner Affairs. In the past, he was in charge of the Mossad operation that led to the capture of Adolf Eichmann... |
Retiree (pensioner) rights | |
| Organization for Democratic Action Organization for Democratic Action The Organisation for Democratic Action is a political party in Israel, where it is commonly known by the acronym, Da'am .-Name:The party has slightly different names in Arabic and Hebrew... |
ק | Agbariyyah Asama' | Communist | |
| Green Party The Greens (Israel) The Greens is a minor political party in Israel currently headed by Pe'er Visner. Although the party is currently not represented in the Knesset, it does hold seats in 22 municipalities across Israel.-History:... |
רק | Pe'er Visner Pe'er Visner Pe'er Visner , is an Israeli politician who is deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and is chair of the Israeli Green Party.Visner strongly opposed a 2006 resolution by the United States Green Party calling for divestment from Israel. Visner wrote, "We are very disappointed that our sister party in the US did... |
Environmentalist | |
| HaLev The Party for the War against Banks Koah HaKesef , formerly known as The Party for the War against Banks or HaLev is a minor political party in Israel. Their goal is to reduce damages that the banks are causing to the public by legislation.-History:... |
פץ | Eliezer Levinger | Consumer rights | |
| Arab National Party Arab National Party The Arab National Party , alternatively rendered as the National Arab Party, is a minor Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Muhamad Kanan.-Background:... |
קפ | Muhammad Kanan | Arab, anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be... |
|
| New Zionism | צה | Ya'akov Kfir | Advocates rights of Holocaust The Holocaust The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi... survivors |
|
| Jewish National Front | כ | Baruch Marzel Baruch Marzel Baruch Meir Marzel is an Israeli politician. Marzel, an American-born Orthodox Jew, lives in the Jewish community of Hebron in Tel Rumeida with his wife and nine children. He is the leader of the Religious Zionism-orientated Jewish National Front party... |
Jewish nationalist, Kahanist Kahanism Kahanism is loosely defined as an nationalist ideology of dedication and self-sacrifice for Jewish causes, such as physical and spiritual freedom and safety of Jews in Israel and worldwide. The term is derived from the name of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane , founder of the Jewish Defense League in USA... |
|
| Lev LaOlim | פז | Ovadia Fathov | ||
| Herut – The National Movement | נץ | Michael Kleiner Michael Kleiner Michael Kleiner is an Israeli politician and leader of Herut – The National Movement.He first entered the Knesset in 1981 as a Likud parliamentarian but, upon then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relinquishing Hebron to the Palestinian Authority, Kleiner split off from the Likud along with Benny... |
Nationalist | |
| Lekhem Lekhem Lehem , lit. United Society Warriors) is a political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Lehem were founded by former Likud member Yisrael Twito after he was forced into poverty and made homeless.... |
ז | Yisrael Tvito | ||
| Leeder | ף | Aleksandr Radko | Russian immigrant, related to Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Liberal Democratic Party of Russia The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Liberal'no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossii is a political party in Russia. Since its founding in 1991, it has been led by the charismatic and controversial figure Vladimir Zhirinovsky... |
|
| Oz LaAniyim Oz LaAniyim Oz LaAniyim was a minor social political party in Israel.-History:The party was established in 1999 and ran for the Knesset for the first time in the 2006 elections. However, it failed to cross the electoral threshold. The party did not run in the 2009 elections.... |
פכ | Felix Angel | Socialist | |
| Atid Ehad | זה | Avraham Negusah | Ethiopian and American immigrants | |
| Justice for All Justice for All (political party) The Man's Rights in the Family Party is a minor political party in Israel. It is currently headed by Yaakov Shlusser.-Background:The party was founded in 1996 as Justice for All , and campaigned on two distinct issues; Men's rights and for the establishment of a commission to determine who really... |
קז | Yaakov Shlosser | Men's rights | |
| Tzomet Tzomet Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements... |
כץ | Moshe Grin | Nationalist |
Note: traditional left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
-right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
divisions in Israel are different than in most countries, being mostly based on the different positions with regard to security and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
. For example, the left-wing Meretz-Yachad
Meretz-Yachad
New Movement-Meretz , previously known as Meretz, then Yachad, and then Meretz-Yachad is a left-wing, Zionist, social democratic political party in Israel....
mainly advocates negotiations with the Palestinians along the lines of the Geneva Initiative, while the right-wing National Union
National Union (Israel)
The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
is opposed to any territorial concessions, yet both parties have strong histories of tabling social/welfare laws.
Pre-election opinion polling
Numbers in the table below are seats, out of a total of 120, as predicted by opinion polls prior to the election.As the electoral threshold stands at 2%, it is impossible for a party to receive only one seat in the Knesset.
Note: Most Israeli pollsters lump the "Arab" parties together, so that the listed number is the total number of seats that the three main Arab lists (Raam, Balad, Hadash) are expected to obtain. In the event that one or more of the three lists does not pass the 2% threshold, the representation of these parties will be one to three fewer seats than listed by the polls.
| Party | 22 March | 23 March | 26 March | 27 March | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geocartographia | Jerusalem Post | Teleseker | Dahaf2 | Globes- Smith | Dialogue | Maagar Mohot | Dahaf2 | Teleseker | Jerusalem Post | Ma'ariv | |
| Kadima Kadima Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians... 14 |
33.5 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 34 | 36 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 33.5 | 34 |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... 27 |
16.5 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 14 |
| Labor Labor (Israel) The Israeli Labor Party , commonly known as HaAvoda , is a social-democratic and labour Zionist political party in Israel. The party is an observer member of both Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai,... 21 |
17.5 | 19.5 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 20.5 | 17 |
| Shinui Shinui Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for... 15 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... 11 |
9.5 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
| Arab parties 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
| Meretz-Yachad Meretz-Yachad New Movement-Meretz , previously known as Meretz, then Yachad, and then Meretz-Yachad is a left-wing, Zionist, social democratic political party in Israel.... 6 |
6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... & National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... 7 & 6 1 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9.5 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 9.5 | 11 |
| Israel Beytenu Israel Beytenu Yisrael Beiteinu is a nationalist political party in Israel. The party describes itself as "a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the brave path of Zev Jabotinsky", the founder of Revisionist Zionism. The party traditionally represents immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but... 7 2 |
10.5 | 10.5 | 10 | 11 | 10.5 | 7 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... 5 |
7 | 5.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Ale Yarok Ale Yarok Ale Yarok is a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, human rights and environmental activism... 0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gil 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Tafnit Tafnit Tafnit was an Israeli political party and a social movement which was established by the Aluf in reserve Uzi Dayan. The party participated in the 2006 elections, although did not gain any seats.-History:Tafnit was established as a social movement... 0 |
4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Green Party The Greens (Israel) The Greens is a minor political party in Israel currently headed by Pe'er Visner. Although the party is currently not represented in the Knesset, it does hold seats in 22 municipalities across Israel.-History:... 0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1 National Union and Yisrael Beiteinu together have 7 seats.
2 Dahaf – published in Yediot Aharonot (and/or its affiliate site Ynet) with the remark "The votes of the undecided were assigned to parties on the basis of additional questions."
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadima Kadima Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians... |
690,901 | 22.02 | 29 | New |
| Labor-Meimad Meimad Meimad is a left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital. At the national level, it was in alliance with the Labour Party, and until the 2006 elections, received 10th spot on the... |
472,366 | 15.06 | 19 | 0 |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... |
299,054 | 9.53 | 12 | |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... |
281,996 | 8.99 | 12 | |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | 281,880 | 8.99 | 11 | New |
| National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... -National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... |
224,083 | 7.14 | 9 | |
| Gil | 185,759 | 5.92 | 7 | New |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... |
147,091 | 4.69 | 6 | |
| Meretz-Yachad Meretz-Yachad New Movement-Meretz , previously known as Meretz, then Yachad, and then Meretz-Yachad is a left-wing, Zionist, social democratic political party in Israel.... |
118,302 | 3.77 | 5 | |
| United Arab List United Arab List The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs... -Ta'al Ta'al Ta'al is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Ahmad Tibi.-History:Ta'al was founded by Tibi in the mid 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Arab Union, but won only 2,087 votes . For the 1999 elections it ran as part of the Balad list. Tibi won a seat, and broke away from... |
94,786 | 3.02 | 4 | |
| Hadash Hadash Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:... |
86,092 | 2.74 | 3 | |
| Balad | 72,066 | 2.30 | 3 | 0 |
| Green Party The Greens (Israel) The Greens is a minor political party in Israel currently headed by Pe'er Visner. Although the party is currently not represented in the Knesset, it does hold seats in 22 municipalities across Israel.-History:... |
47,595 | 1.52 | 0 | 0 |
| Ale Yarok Ale Yarok Ale Yarok is a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, human rights and environmental activism... |
40,353 | 1.29 | 0 | 0 |
| Jewish National Front | 24,824 | 0.79 | 0 | New |
| Tafnit Tafnit Tafnit was an Israeli political party and a social movement which was established by the Aluf in reserve Uzi Dayan. The party participated in the 2006 elections, although did not gain any seats.-History:Tafnit was established as a social movement... |
18,753 | 0.60 | 0 | New |
| Atid Ehad | 14,005 | 0.44 | 0 | New |
| Hetz Hetz (political party) Hetz was a secularist political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the breakup of Shinui towards the end of the 16th Knesset... |
10,113 | 0.33 | 0 | New |
| Shinui Shinui Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for... |
4,675 | 0.16 | 0 | |
| Justice for All | 3,819 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 |
| Organization for Democratic Action Organization for Democratic Action The Organisation for Democratic Action is a political party in Israel, where it is commonly known by the acronym, Da'am .-Name:The party has slightly different names in Arabic and Hebrew... |
3,692 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 |
| Herut – The National Movement | 2,387 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 |
| HaLev | 2,163 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| Brit Olam Brit Olam Brit Olam is a political party in Israel-Background and ideology:Brit Olam is joint Jewish-Arab party founded by Ofer Lifschitz in 2005. It stands for the foundation of a Palestinan state, separation of church and state, raising the minimum wage and improving the education system... |
2,011 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| Lev | 1,765 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| Lekhem Lekhem Lehem , lit. United Society Warriors) is a political party in Israel.-Background and ideology:Lehem were founded by former Likud member Yisrael Twito after he was forced into poverty and made homeless.... |
1,381 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| Tzomet Tzomet Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements... |
1,342 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| The New Zionism | 1,278 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| Oz LaAniyim Oz LaAniyim Oz LaAniyim was a minor social political party in Israel.-History:The party was established in 1999 and ran for the Knesset for the first time in the 2006 elections. However, it failed to cross the electoral threshold. The party did not run in the 2009 elections.... |
1,214 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| Arab National Party Arab National Party The Arab National Party , alternatively rendered as the National Arab Party, is a minor Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Muhamad Kanan.-Background:... |
738 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| Leader Leader (political party) Leader is a minor political party in Israel. Headed by Alexander Radko, it is related to the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.It has run in elections in 2003, 2006 and 2009. In 2003 it won only 833 votes, the lowest of any party. In 2006 it received 580 votes, again the lowest... |
580 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 49,675 | |||
| Total | 3,137,064 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
The turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was the lowest in Israeli legislative election history, 63.6% of eligible voters, compared to 68.9% in 2003 and 78.7% in 1999. The turnout of 62.5% in 2001 election for Prime Minister is the lowest in nationwide elections.
Results by city
| Party | Ariel Ariel (city) Ariel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank. Ariel was established in 1978. Its population at the end of 2009 was 17,600, including 7,000 immigrants who came to Israel after 1990. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement city in the West Bank., after Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit,... |
Ashdod | Ashkelon Ashkelon Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age... |
Bat Yam | Bnei Brak | Beersheba Beersheba Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300.... |
Eilat | Haifa Haifa Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher... |
Herzliya Herzliya Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²... |
Holon | Jerusalem | Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona is a city located in the North District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley on the Lebanese border. The city was named for the eight people, including Joseph Trumpeldor, who died in 1920 defending Tel Hai.... |
Modi'in | Netanya Netanya Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the... |
Ofakim | Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately... |
Rishon LeZion | Ramat Gan | Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with... |
Umm al-Fahm Umm al-Fahm Umm al-Fahm is a city in the Haifa District of Israel with a population of 43,300, nearly all of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm mountain ridge, the highest point of which is Mt. Iskander , overlooking Wadi Ara... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadima Kadima Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians... |
12.4 | 19.5 | 19.7 | 25.1 | 3.1 | 21.5 | 31.4 | 28.9 | 35.1 | 28.9 | 12 | 17.6 | 32.3 | 23.8 | 9.1 | 23.4 | 32.4 | 30 | 27.8 | 1.4 |
| Labour-Meimad Meimad Meimad is a left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital. At the national level, it was in alliance with the Labour Party, and until the 2006 elections, received 10th spot on the... |
3.9 | 10.3 | 11.2 | 11.8 | 1.9 | 16.7 | 21.2 | 16.9 | 17.5 | 14.5 | 10.3 | 17.8 | 20.4 | 10.9 | 16.3 | 12.2 | 15 | 16.8 | 19.8 | 3.7 |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... |
24.1 | 10.1 | 13 | 11.6 | 3 | 9.5 | 9.1 | 8.3 | 8.7 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 12.1 | 10.2 | 12.2 | 10 | 11 | 10.7 | 10.9 | 8.7 | – |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | 34.6 | 19.9 | 22.3 | 16.9 | 1.8 | 20.1 | 7.3 | 12.1 | 5.4 | 8.7 | 6.5 | 16.7 | 5.1 | 13.5 | 16.3 | 11 | 10.9 | 5 | 4.2 | – |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... |
4.2 | 17.1 | 15.1 | 12.3 | 23.8 | 14 | 8.9 | 3.6 | 5.6 | 12.8 | 15.2 | 14.3 | 2.8 | 12.9 | 22.2 | 9.3 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 0.7 |
| Gil | 5 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 9.5 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 8.1 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 9 | 10.7 | 13.1 | 9.2 | – |
| National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... -NRP National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... |
8.5 | 4.4 | 6.8 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 12.2 | 10.4 | 8 | 9.1 | 6.7 | 12 | 3.9 | 6.8 | 3.3 | – |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... |
0.3 | 9.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 56.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 18.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 13.3 | 4 | 0.8 | 1 | 1.3 | – |
| Meretz Meretz-Yachad New Movement-Meretz , previously known as Meretz, then Yachad, and then Meretz-Yachad is a left-wing, Zionist, social democratic political party in Israel.... |
0.5 | 1 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 6 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 8.7 | 2.3 |
| United Arab List United Arab List The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs... -Ta'al Ta'al Ta'al is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Ahmad Tibi.-History:Ta'al was founded by Tibi in the mid 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Arab Union, but won only 2,087 votes . For the 1999 elections it ran as part of the Balad list. Tibi won a seat, and broke away from... |
– | – | – | – | – | 0.1 | – | 0.2 | – | – | 0.1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0.7 | 10.6 |
| Hadash Hadash Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:... |
– | – | – | 0.1 | – | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.8 | 0.1 | – | 0.3 | 0.1 | – | – | – | – | – | 0.2 | 0.9 | 56.1 |
| Balad | – | – | – | – | – | 0.1 | – | 2.9 | – | – | 0.2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0.3 | 21.7 |
| Source: Yedioth Ahronoth Walla.co.il | ||||||||||||||||||||
Immediate impact and coalition formation
For the second time in Israeli history (previously in 1999), no dominant party sat in the Knesset, only two medium (Kadima and Labor) and small-sized ones. Following the election Olmert stated that he prefers entering into a coalition with Labor, and that Peretz is a "suitable partner."On 2 April both Gil and Meretz recommended to Katzav that Olmert become Prime Minister. The next day, at a joint appearance, Olmert and Peretz announced that Kadima and Labor would be coalition partners and that Peretz would advise the President to tap Olmert as Prime Minister.
On 6 April President Katzav formally asked Olmert to form a government officially making him Prime Minister-designate. A coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
was formed consisting of Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
, Labour, Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
and Gil. Olmert refused to accede to Peretz's demands for the Finance ministry, who was forced to accept the Defense ministry instead.
In October 2006 with the coalition shaken after the 2006 Lebanon War, Olmert brought the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu into government as well. However, they left the coalition in January 2008 in protest at peace talks with the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
.